“Mama, don’t put kefir in it.”

She thinks I put kefir in everything, and she is usually right.

Making living whey based fermented foods is a great way to get probiotics and strengthen your immune system, but in the case of salsa, it usually gets eaten so fast around here that there is not always time for it to ferment.

You can hand chop everything, but I like to use my food processor which is so much faster.  Begin with one head of garlic.

Process until fine.

Two or three large bunches of cilantro. We love cilantro and I always use the stems as well. Chop the bunches in pieces about two inches long and pulse process the stem parts first.

Empty those into a bowl and then lightly pulse process the cilantro leaves so they are not too pulverized.

This was my last bag of roasted green chiles that I had in the freezer from last year. I get at least a case of roasted Hatch green chilies each year when dh drives through New Mexico, and I pull the top stem off and pack them into as many quart ziplock bags as I can and freeze for salsa, chile, soups, green chile kombucha… Yum!

I process these fine, and needed some more moisture. I had some peach kombucha and the peaches from the kombucha which were fizzy and fermented, so I added them and about a cup of kombucha. I usually add about 1/4 cup of living kefir whey per quart of whatever ferment I am making, but in this case I skipped the whey and added the kombucha instead. It will continue to impart probiotic bacteria, but again this salsa won’t stick around that long.

and now for something completely different. Looking out my kitchen window at some sunbathers.

Organic garden tomatoes are hard to come by this time of year, and I only had about 8 or so. Pulse process them so they remain in nice chunks. Continue to put everything in a large bowl.

I added three heaping tablespoons of whole cumin seeds and two heaping teaspoons of real salt. Process a while to break up some of the cumin seeds.

I added the juice and pulp from three large limes.

Pulse process two large onions, chopping them in big cubes before placing them in the food processor makes them process more evenly.

You can add tomatillos if you can find good ones, but I couldn’t find any. Now everything is ready to stir and mix together.

Upon tasting it needed more salt and spice. I added another two heaping teaspoons of real salt, for a total of four teaspoons. I added a heaping teaspoon of ground coriander seed and two heaping teaspoons of ground cumin seed. Mix everything up and pack into jars.

If I was making a large batch of salsa that I was going to ferment, I would have skipped the kombucha and added kefir whey to each jar after the salsa was made. This way I make sure that I add enough whey per jar, since I never know exactly how many jars a particular batch will make. The proportions of whey per quart is 1/4 cup whey per quart jar. Add it to the jar of salsa and make sure to leave an inch below the rim of the jar or it will spill over. Leave in room temperature for three days to ferment and then put in the fridge to store for up to 6 months or so. It will be fizzy.

I used jars with plastic lids on them for the salsa we will eat this week, and the mason jars for salsa I will try and hide in the back of the fridge for next week, if they don’t find it first. It is so wonderful in omelets or filling an avocado…

p.s. I was looking at past posts and totally forgot about this Peach Fermented Salsa I made last year. It was before I got a camera and the pictures are crummy, but wow this was good salsa.